Advantages

Disadvantages

Lets hope the price comes down soon...

When I discovered I had a gluten intolerance (ie Irritable Bowel Syndrome CAN be linked to a cause, no matter what your GP might say!) the easiest and most obvious food switch to make was to gluten free pasta, which thankfully is now widely available.

It's very pricey compared to normal pasta - £1.69 per 250g bag is the cheapest I have found, in Tesco, going up to £1.89 in many health shops - so it's not something I would eat more than a couple of times a week. Considering that you can buy 1 kg of ordinary pasta for less than that, then yes, this is very expensive! Another disadvantage is how light it is in comparison with wheat pasta; I always feel extra hungry the morning after an evening meal with gluten free pasta, as it is made from lighter, faster- burning vegetables and rice.

Having said that, it is a God-send for all us gluten-freebies and cooks down in a ludicrously short time: I actually just bring it to the boil, then turn the hob off for about 7-10 minutes and it cooks on its own, just standing in the heat of the water (with the lid on). It also needs to be rinsed while you drain it, as quite a bit of starch collects in the water during the cooking process. Because of this, if you cook it or leave it in hot water for too long, it goes gooey and over-soft and you may find yourself eating a very odd sort of porridge! Once it's been rinsed and drained, it is okay to leave it for a little while, though it will need to be teased apart.

It has a lovely, pasta-like texture and is great with tomato-based sauces and feta cheese sprinkled on top...mmm.

Comments

Advantages

Disadvantages

Good for those with food intolerance.

I like pasta but was unable to buy the normal wheat pasta as I have gluten and wheat intolerance. There are many alternative to wheat pasta and so far I have found that the Orgran Vegetable Rice Pasta Spirals have the closest resemblance to wheat.

Orgran is a leading brand in alternative food product. Their products are for people who have special dietary requirements. All Orgran products are gluten free, wheat free, dairy free, egg free, yeast free, GMO free and are suitable for vegan.

Though I do treat myself with wheat products once in a while (and suffer the consequence later), I would substitute wheat pasta for rice pasta as I have pasta dishes often. Orgran vegetable rice pasta spiral is a blend of brown rice (94.3%) and vegetables (5.7%). There are many coloured spiral pasta in a packet and these are natural colouring from spinach, beetroot and tomato. The spiral coloured pasta do make pasta dishes looks very attractive.

Like wheat pasta, I only need to boil the pasta till it's cooked. However, I do notice that there is a substantial amount of starch produced when boiling. After running the cook pasta with cold water, I managed to get rid of most of the starch.

The texture and taste of cooked rice pasta is similar to wheat pasta. It also mixes well with the different sauce and my favourite is Bolognese and pesto. I am glad I found this alternative to wheat pasta and though it's not cheap (£1.69 for 250g), its worth it as I can still enjoy pasta dishes without wheat.

Orgran rice pasta and other orgran products are available in most supermarkets.